As most (both?) of you who follow this site probably know, I do a climate histories site called "All Our Yesterdays." It's one of those "on this day x years ago x happened." I have learned a lot doing it - both about the histories of climate (you'd hope, eh?) but also some rudimentary data... Continue Reading →
Of WASPs and WESPs: power, perception and our baked-in doom
tl;dr - our societal systems of perception, especially of what is "normal" or "reliable" are dominated by white supremacism and patriarchy. This will not end well. Short one, because I should be feeding moorhens and doing a dozen good projects but I'm not. WASP stands for "White Anglo Saxon Protestant" - the "normal" for US... Continue Reading →
Of Sophisticated Hopium Ignoring Trajectories; an exhausted rant on Solnit, Morton, the Kleins etc
tl;dr - there is a market for "brightside-ing" that relies on ignoring the relevant trajectories and instead cherry-picking largely irrelevant factoids. Even otherwise worth-reading writers peddle it some of the time. Examples are given, "what is to be done" addressed. I'm not going to recap the scale and scope of the shit we are in.... Continue Reading →
We are taught deference, but (because?) They. Really. Are. Not. That. Bright.
I went to posh schools (a minor prep school in Hampshire and then the second 'best' school in Adelaide). At university I was on the fringe of the political set, who went on to State and Federal politics. Beyond that, I spent (i.e. wasted) a solid decade and a half interacting with the Manchester Labour... Continue Reading →
Brian Bilston’s poem “Today’s Climate Forecast”
Brian Bilston nailing it, July 10 this year.
“Leaning in” – it’s easier, after all…
There's a new book called Fascist Yoga, which I am probably not going to read, but I am probably glad that it exists. Meanwhile
The centrist rally (see also “Love me, I’m a liberal”)
Saw this online and it made me laugh a bit - ymmv. See also Phil Ochs "love me, I'm a liberal". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cdqQ2BdgOA Blah blah "if you're middle of the road you get hit by the traffic in both directions" blah blah.
Brilliant analysis of modern conservatism – “so disgusted by the world it helped to make that….”
I can say brilliant because it wasn't me. Recently I posted a quote by John Kenneth Galbraith And a friend I respect (have never met - this is the 21st century) replied with a typical (for this person) succinct and incisive comment. So spot-on it hurts. Although not as much as modern “Conservatism” does. Key... Continue Reading →
Fish, lakes, trawlers, men, guns, banks…
A few years ago I did a gushing review (this is unusual for me) of an academic book (see previous brackets, only more so). It was a book about "Energy Fables" and how power relations are buried in the assumptions of various "common sense" phrases like "low-hanging fruit" and the "energy trilemma." I don't think... Continue Reading →
Octavia Butler’s words of wisdom
I absolutely loved The Parable of the Sower - need to read the sequel... “Choose your leaderswith wisdom and forethought.To be led by a cowardis to be controlledby all that the coward fears.To be led by a foolis to be ledby the opportunistswho control the fool.To be led by a thiefis to offer upyour most... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 